Post by Osamu Shimazu on Jul 17, 2018 23:35:27 GMT -5

A cadre of personelle accompanied the fledgling Captain of the Second to the World of the Living. Their mission was simple: Kirito, that blasted traitor, had been spotted lingering around Karakura Town. Thanks in no small part to the Seireitei’s recent plague, efforts to track down and deal with known traitors had all but halted. With things finally leveling out, a new group of individuals rose to prominence in the Gotei, and what better way to make names for themselves than taking care of relics of the past?

After arriving on Earth, the group parted ways. The plan was simple: create a perimeter, gradually reducing the radius until Kirito was within sight with nowhere to run.

What a familiar setup. During the plague, this was a tactic the Second used extensively to capture and deal with infected individuals. Eventually, they’d embed up cornered with nowhere to run. They’d be shaking in their boots, many would plead for their lives. Anything was better than being sent to the Nest, after all. While some fought, others submitted. Those lucky enough to go down fighting averted the slow, drawn out death that awaited them in the Nest. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy holding such power over another’s head.

Kirito wouldn’t be any different. He would either submit himself to judgment, or die in a valiant attempt to avoid such a fate.

Post by Sora Shiryoku on Jul 18, 2018 1:26:28 GMT -5

Kazuto had been out for a smoke when he'd felt the first of the spiritual pressures appear. He was in his gigai of course, as per the usual. Leaning back against the park bench upon which he sat, he took a deep breath through his mouth to clean out the taste of tobacco from his mouth, if only briefly.

Terrible habit, I should quit.Yes, you should.

You don't really want to though.

You're right. I don't. Not like it can do all that much damage to me anyway. Honestly I'm not sure if a gigai can get lung cancer. Maybe I'll ask Chie if I ever see her again.

Because that would go SO well.

...You're right. Again.

I'm always right.

He had nothing to say to that.

It had been five years since he'd last seen another Shinigami. Rather, five years since he'd talked to another Shinigami. Today, Kazuto was almost entirely sure that was going to change. Genki Ogawa, a relatively unskilled but powerful man, had been able to find him in his gigai so long ago, so it stood to reason that the fifteen spiritual pressures he could feel closing in on his location right now were capable of the same feat. Out of the five, only one posed a minute threat, but still, it was shocking that after five completely quiet years, the Seireitei appeared to be showing up in full force to catch him.

Maybe it had something to do with the plague Fionn had mentioned a few months ago. Speculation was all such claims were, but still, it didn't seem farfetched considering the general decline in the Shinigami population across the world. Regardless, facts were facts; multiple Shinigami spiritual signatures were approaching his location. Why didn't matter. Sighing, Kazuto snuffed his cigarette and tossed its remainder onto the nearby ashtray built into a garbage can. Following this, he quickly left his gigai, the false body slumping forward upon losing the soul I usually contained.

He then closed his eyes, focusing on the first of the many energy signatures. Through this procedure, Kazuto "locked on" to the being. Had it been five years ago, he'd have worried about what he was about to do; whether the target he'd just honed in on had a family, or was a genuinely nice person. Petty things like that. Life had taught him many lessons since then, the first of which was simple.

When defending yourself, and when killing in general, you had to forget about sentimentality and focus only on the job at hand.

With this in mind, Kazuto fired the first of many Bala to come with nothing more than instinct as his motive, and nothing more than a breath as his incantation. Within a split second of the initial flash of spiritual energy, he no longer felt the signature of his target. Closing his eyes once more, he repeated the process again and again, taking about approximately half of the Shinigami out of the picture. It was only then, after firing his eighth shot that he realized something.This is boring.

It was a terrifying thought in its own right, one which subverted any amount of growth he'd made as a person since his death, but still, the idea of a real fight excited him, if only mildly. One of the enemies appeared to be quite strong; as strong, if not stronger than him, in fact. Perhaps it was the last real embers of youth still burning within him, or maybe it was a flash of his old, somewhat psychopathic self making an appearance. Either way, Kazuto didn't really mind. Drawing Kiri-Hana without releasing her, he simply waited as the remainder of the shinigami closed in upon his location gradually, surely now aware of his presence following his little rampage.

Post by Osamu Shimazu on Jul 18, 2018 3:09:00 GMT -5

One by one, something worked against him and his forces, reducing their numbers to half within the first hour of their mission. Undoubtedly, tension set in. Then fear.

Whatever worked against them was indeed powerful, and acted intently. Examination of each of the fallen revealed a penchant for the quick and easy. It didn’t take much detective work to conclude Kirito was more than aware of their presence here, and was acting in accordance with preserving his own life.

On his order, those remaining converged on his location, proceeding just within eyesight of one another. They moved slowly, deliberately, and on Osamu’s marks. His own capacity for tracking, both physically and spiritually, proved more than able to see the deed to completion. The closer he got to his intended target, the harder his heart beat in his chest.

This was his chance to prove himself to the rest of the Gotei, after all. If he didn’t have some stellar Bankai up how sleeve, his claim to Captaincy would be the reigning in of the scum of the past. He’d parade each of the savages through the streets of Seireitei, while all the onlookers jeered and spat, all the way to the executioners block where it would end in a grand finale.

He’d be the hero.

As soon as he laid eyes on Kirito, the group stepped as one, forming a tight circle not thirty feet across around the fugitive. He didn’t look like much, but they never really did, did they? It was always so underwhelming. Savage, though, he could see. Kirito was a savage, and he would pay not only for his nature, but for his subsequent actions. For failing to submit.

“You must be Kirigaya,” he sang staccato, “or is it Kirito you’re used to being called? That is why the data says, if memory serves.”

“Now that we’re all gathered,” he paused, “most of us, anyway,” he corrected himself, noticeably displeased, “my name is Osamu Shimazu, newly appointed Captain of the Second Division. It’s your lucky day, because we’ve come to offer you an opportunity.” He stared him down, carefully measuring the distance between the two. He was confident in his positioning. He was sure he’d maintain the upper hand.

“Why don’t you put that sword away, and come with us back to the Seireitei? Not as a free man, of course. Dereliction of duty is just as serious these days as it was back when you decided it was in your best interests to abandon us.”

“Sajo Sobaku,” with an outstretched hand, the magic commanded mighty golden ropes of winding binding energy which snakes through the air towards their intended target.

Post by Sora Shiryoku on Jul 19, 2018 0:24:48 GMT -5

A binding spell. How unusually... tame. Kazuto could only assume it was a change in protocol from the once considered tried-and-true "kill them until they die" method that the Seireitei had applied to those they had called "Vaizards". How silly, this idea of being "corrupted". Such beings were creations of their own will. While a soul could only develop an inner hollow if it acted upon an opportunity to do so, it was certainly the souls own doing. Some people just didn't have it in them; why punish those who did? Perhaps it was the constant anti-hollow attitude that radiated throughout the Seireitei's upper echelons of power that had caused the "Vaizard" to become targets. Maybe it was an amalgamation of things such as circumstance, or the often anti-Seireitei disposition held by individuals who fell into that category.

Either way, it seemed fitting that a word Kazuto had once willingly tried to distance himself from at a point in his life filled with self-loathing was now one he simply accepted as a part of his being at a point is his life where he felt completely and utterly at peace with himself. He truly had been misguided.

Now he had come to terms with his path; gone was the boy who hesitated, who refused to accept himself for who he was.

Breaking from his brief thoughts of self-introspection, Kazuto's eyes widened slightly as the rope of golden energy flew towards, and eventually, ensnared him, quickly wrapping itself around him as was intended. Shock would be an apt way to describe the expression on his face in the brief moment he appeared restrained.

That was, until the rope fell to the ground, having never really been touching Kazuto in the first place. In reality, he was standing behind one of the other, seemingly subordinate Shinigami, his rapier of a Zanpakuto protruding from the upper chest of the man in question. Withdrawing his blade from the man briskly and without any issue, he watched as the body in front of him crumpled, having sustained a penetrating blow directly through the heart. Wiping his somewhat unkempt hair out of his face to clear his vision and make himself seem at least a little bit presentable, Kazuto spoke calmly and with minimal emotion, replying to who he could only assume was the man in charge.

"Kazuto is fine. Last names are so formal, and that old alias those of the Seireitei hang onto is from long departed era of my life."

As he spoke, Kiri-Hana, whom he had continued to hold in front of him following his previous strike, began to glow a bright blue before taking her Shikāi form. The katana which now sat in his hands felt heavier than the rapier he had just seconds ago wielded, yet similar in almost every way. After all, they were really the same weapon. Kiri-Hana would remain balanced with Kazuto regardless of shape, size, or any other physical factor. His Zanpakuto was a pure extension of his soul, one which he had studied the use of for years in the hopes of the achieving the harmony with it that he now possessed.

The prospect of applying his self-introspective studies in a more practical situation excited him. Now smiling if ever so slightly, he rose his blade with his right hand, holding it parallel to his body in an invitation of an innocently violent nature, making this invitation clear through his voice at the same time.

"It's been five years since the last time we talked, so I suppose we're well overdue for another meeting. Whether you like it or not, I'm open for business; come at me, Seireitei."

Note: I know we reasoned the subordinates to all be within the 25-50 range as rank and file Shinigami post-plague. At 50 Rei, the highest any given stat could be would be 20, and assuming that defense was 20, and that all skills were at Journeyman (despite the likelihood that they'd be closer to Novice) there would be a 2 comparison tier difference for a Superior attack. However working in the element of surprise by comparing the Shini's Journeyman RP to my Grandmaster Utsusemi deception, I think we can agree that Dominant seems reasonable in this situation.